Well, I'm very thankful for your pastor.
He's pastored us and went through some very tough trials. And through those trials, always
stood in the pulpit and preached the gospel. He always preached
Christ to us. And I don't guess you could say
anything better about a man than to say he was faithful to Christ. to preach the gospel. And I love
him dearly, so thankful for you Marvin. And I know you are too. Let's turn now to Romans chapter
3. Romans chapter 3. Paul has been going through Romans,
or through this chapter declaring to us that we are not justified
by the works of the law. Declaring that the law is established
by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people,
and that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us through
faith in Christ. He comes to the end of Romans
3, and he asks three questions. He sums up everything he had
said, he asks these three questions. He asks, in verse 28, he says, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by the law without, I'm sorry,
Romans 27, Romans 3 27, he says, where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what rule or what law? By the law of works? No, but
by the law of faith. And then he asks this question,
down in verse 31, he says, do we then make void the law through
faith? And he said, God forbid, yea,
we establish the law. And what he's saying there is,
we establish the law through faith. Christ established the
law for his people, and through faith, it's the only way we establish
it. Trust in Christ, through faith
we establish the law. But back here in verse 29, he
asked a question that may seem a little odd to you and I in
our day. He said, Is he the God of the
Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. And
he says, seeing it's one God which shall justify the circumcision
by faith, that is the Jew, natural sons of Abraham. He justifies
them by faith and the uncircumcision, his elect among the Gentiles. He justifies through faith the
same way. It's one God He justifies his
elect Jew and Gentile the same way through faith in Christ.
Through faith in Christ. Now he's going to illustrate
that for us down in chapter 4. And that's going to be our text.
Romans 4. We've been talking about Abraham
and talked about the blessedness that David described where God
imputes righteousness to a man and he will not impute sin to
him. His sins are covered. They're blotted out. And he says
now that's the blessedness Abraham had and he says in verse 9, cometh
this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the
uncircumcision also. For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. He's saying does God impute the
righteousness of Christ only to the Jew who was circumcised
and was under the law? Is he the only one God imputes
righteousness to through faith? Or does he also impute the righteousness
of Christ to the Gentile who was uncircumcised in the flesh?
See, he's illustrating what he asked up there in Romans 3, 29.
He's saying, is this blessing come only upon the Jew? Or does it also come upon the
Gentile? He says, for we say faith was imputed to Abraham
for righteousness. What was the blessing of Abraham?
What was the blessing Abraham had? He said, does this blessedness
come upon the Jew only or does it come upon the Gentile? What
was Abraham's blessedness? The righteousness of Christ.
the faith of Christ whereby he established the righteousness
of the law. That righteousness, that establishment
of the law was imputed to Abraham through Abraham's faith in Christ.
That was his blessedness. God gave him righteousness, freely
gave it to him. He freely established the law
through faith in Christ. Now what's the point, what's
the significance of asking this question? When I say Why ask
if the uncircumcised Gentiles have the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us? Why ask that question? And why
use Abraham to illustrate it? Well, if God imputed righteousness
to Abraham through faith in Christ only. If that's the only reason
that God imputed righteousness to Abraham. He believed on Christ. And that's the only way, it was
only through faith in Christ. And if that was done before he
was circumcised, before Abraham was circumcised, while as yet
he was uncircumcised, then that means, brethren, that God justifies
all his elect, makes all his elect righteous, only through
faith in Christ, apart from our works whatsoever. If he did this
for Abraham, he's called the father of all who believe. He's
the father of the faithful. And however God imputed righteousness
to him, however he was made to establish the whole law of God,
that's how all God's elect were made to establish the law. So
when was Abraham, it says here verse 10, how was it then reckoned? How was it imputed? Or when was
it imputed? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Did God wait until after this
fleshly circumcision to impute righteousness to Abraham, or
was it done before fleshly circumcision? It says not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. God imputed the righteousness
of Christ to Abraham through faith before as yet Abraham was
ever circumcised in the flesh. So by that, he shows us, the
Holy Spirit shows us, brethren, That righteousness is imputed
to a sinner through faith in Christ apart from any work done
by the sinner. Apart from any work done by the
sinner. This is how we are the children
of Abraham. This is how we are heirs of God. Through faith in Christ. Now
I want to show you two things from this. I want to show you
what outward circumcision typified. And secondly, I want to show
you the reason it was given to Abraham. The reason it was given
to Abraham. Alright, first of all, Abraham's
outward circumcision typified what God had already done for
him in his heart. It typified what he already had
before as yet that outward circumcision came about. Look at Romans 4
verse 9. I'm sorry, Romans 4 verse 11. Now this was about 15 years after
God worked grace in Abraham's heart. It says verse 11, He received
the sign of circumcision outward in the flesh and it was a seal
of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised. Now what did that fleshly circumcision? We're told here He received the
sign of circumcision. That word sign just means it
was an outward mark. It was done outwardly. And he
says here that it was a seal. That word seal means a token,
a reminder. It typified something, so it
was to remind Abraham of something. In Franklin, you that have been
to Franklin, Tennessee, where Marvin and I used to live, in
the square, town there, Franklin, there is a statue in the middle
of that town. That statue is a token. That statue is to remind you
there was a battle fought in Franklin. That is all it is there
for. It just reminds you of something
that took place already in that town. That is what circumcision
was. This word silming, it was a token,
it was a type to remind Abraham of something that already took
place. So what did it picture? What was it a type of? Go with
me to Colossians chapter 2. First of all, it was to remind
Abraham of Christ. It was to remind Abraham of what
Christ, his surety, what he had in Christ, his surety. It was
to remind him of Christ himself. Colossians 2.9 says, In Christ
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete
in him which is the head of all principality and power. All the
fullness and the word complete are translated from the same
word. So what it means is, just as Christ is all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, that's how complete you are in Christ.
As As completely as Christ is the fullness of the Godhead,
that's how fully you are complete in Christ. That's what it's saying.
Nothing needs to be done. Every believer brought to faith
in Christ has all fullness in Christ just as completely as
Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And look at this
now, look at verse 11. in whom also you are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands and putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried
with him in baptism, wherein also you're risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came to obey God. He came to fulfill
the righteousness of the law for his people and to justify
us from all our sin. And so, what did he say was the
righteousness of the law? He said it's loving God and your
neighbor as yourself. And that love, that righteousness
of love, Christ fulfilled that. That positive obedience to the
law, He fulfilled it by obeying God and presenting Himself to
the Father, the spotless Lamb of God, to be made sin in place
of His people. He obeyed the law and fulfilled
the love of that law, the righteousness of the law, by laying down His
life for His Father and for His people. And in the process, he
justified all his people from our sins, and he declared God
just by bearing our sins and bearing the wrath of God in the
place of his people. And by doing that, brethren,
he made us the righteousness of God in him, both positively
and negatively. And just like circumcision removed
the corrupt flesh, Christ by his sacrifice on the cross took
away our body of sins. That body of sins that God looks
at, that the law looked upon and said you're guilty because
of Adam's transgression. That body of sins that you and
I have. Christ went to the cross to destroy
that body of sins for us. To circumcise that body of sins
from off of us before the eye of God, before the law of God.
And he did it. Scripture says Our old man is
crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. Because he that's dead is
justified from sin. When you're justified from sin,
that means the law can't say anything else to you ever again. The law has nothing else to say
to you. No transgression can be found
upon anybody for whom Christ died because he destroyed our
body of sin. You remember when Jack Ruby jumped
out and he shot Lee Harvey Oswald and he killed him. What else
could the law of the land say to Lee Harvey Oswald? Nothing.
He killed him. The law can't execute you but
one time. And in Christ, the law executed
all his people in him. And not only that, he died under
sin once and death has no more dominion over him. He arose from
the grave and all his people arose in him. And so Paul says,
you reckon yourselves to be dead indeed under sin. You impute
yourself to be what you really are because of what Christ accomplished.
Dead unto sin, but alive unto God. That's the first thing Abraham's
circumcision reminded him of. It reminded him that by Christ,
His body of sins was totally removed. And he was seeing this
before it took place. Christ said he saw my day. And
he was seeing it by faith before Christ came. We're looking at
it now that it's accomplished. And then secondly, look there
at Colossians 2. It reminded him of what God had done in his
heart. Verse 13, And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. This is what God always
meant by physical circumcision. It was a picture, a token, of
what Christ did for His people on the cross when He was immersed
in the judgment of God, baptized in the judgment of God, and you
and I were baptized in that judgment with Him. And then a picture
of what God does in the heart when He takes away that sinful
flesh that has dominion over you so that you can't believe.
He cuts that away, creating a new man in righteousness and true
holiness, putting a new spirit in you in which is no God. I
like how John over there says, If we say we have no sin, if
we deny our sin nature, we're lying. And why did he say, what's
the cause of it? The truth is not in us. And then
he said, and if we say we have not sinned, if we say we haven't
broken the law, or that we can keep the law, he said, we call
God a liar. And what's the cause of it? The
word's not in us. But whenever the Gospel goes
forth and the Spirit of God causes you to be born of the incorruptible
seed, He puts that Word in you. That's the Word, that's the truth
whereby the Gospel is preached unto you. And when He put that
Word in you, He circumcised you in the heart, giving you a new
spirit in which is no guile. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin and in whose spirit is no guile. And so now we will actually come
to God confessing our sins that all we are in our sin nature
is sin. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. And we'll come confessing all
we've ever done before God's law is break it. We'll be honest
with God because now there's a spirit in which is no God.
That fleshly spirit has been circumcised so that there's a
new spirit now that's purified where we can be honest with God.
and come confessing our sin. And the Lord always said this
is what circumcision pictured. He said in Deuteronomy 30 verse
6, the Lord God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of
thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul that thou mayest live. God always said this is
what physical circumcision pictured. It pictured that work of the
heart. And then when God did this work in Abraham's heart,
this is before he ever gave him fleshly circumcision. He made
a covenant with Abraham. When he called him out of Ur-Kaldis
and he quickened him in his heart and he gave him faith, God took
him out there and he said, you look at the stars Abraham, can
you number these stars? And Abraham looked up and he
said, I can't begin to number. He said, that's how your seed's
going to be. You're going to have, I'm going
to make you a father of many nations. And I'm going to give
you a heavenly inheritance, pictured in that temporal Canaan that
I'm going to give you. That pictures that new heavens
and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And he made that
covenant with him when he circumcised him in the heart. And so that's
why you read in Genesis 17 when God, he reaffirmed that covenant
with him. And after he did that, then he
said, now Abraham, you be circumcised in the flesh. And he did. But that was to remind him of
that covenant he'd already made with him. To remind him that
before he was ever circumcised, he already made that covenant
with him. That he would make him a father of many nations.
And this would be accomplished in Christ the seed. In his seed. And then lastly, when he gave
him that physical circumcision, that was a mark that distinguished
Abraham and Abraham's natural sons from everybody else in the
world. Nobody else in the world had
that. And it was a distinguishing mark that set them apart from
everybody else. But when Abraham saw that physical
mark, it reminded him of that distinguishing that work God
had done in his heart whereby he was distinguished from all
other people in the world. And so was all his children distinguished. We have, you and I sitting here
today, we have a distinguishing mark that makes us different
from all other people in the world that we got from God circumcising
us in the heart. Listen to this, this is it. We
are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. There's no other religion not
only that goes by the name of Christianity but also outside
of Christianity. We're the only ones that have
that distinguishing mark. Only those who have been circumcised
in the heart. Every religion, every religion
including those that call themselves Christians. If it's not circumcision
of the heart by God, somewhere in the salvation, they put a
work in the sinner's hands. And this is the distinguishing
mark with all those God has circumcised in the heart. We rejoice, we
worship God in the spirit. We rejoice in Christ and we put
no confidence in the flesh. Our worship is a spiritual worship.
That's what we're saying here. All this that Abraham was given
before physical circumcision entered the picture. All this
was done was a spiritual work. He was made to behold Christ
who circumcised him as his surety. He was made to behold the work
that he had done in his heart, whereby he was circumcised in
the heart. There was an everlasting covenant of grace made in his
heart. And all this work distinguished him from anybody else in the
world. And then he gave him physical circumcision just to remind him
of all that he had already done. Don't lose sight of the point
here. Paul's making this point because
if this is how the first, the father of believers was made
righteous, then this is how all God's people are made righteous.
Abraham was a Gentile. He was. When God called him,
he was a Gentile. And as far as fleshly circumcision
goes and any kind of fleshly title goes, he was a Gentile
when God gave him a new heart and gave him faith in Christ.
He was not a Jew. Not physically, not outwardly.
But now let me show you something else. Here's the reason God did
all that for Abraham. He told him, verse 11, Romans
4, 11. He gave him all this to assure him this is the same grace
God's going to work in the heart of all his people. So that Abraham
would be the father of every believer and we'd be his spiritual
children. Look here at Romans 4 11. He
did this that he might be the father of all them that believe
though they be not circumcised. That means me and you who are
Gentiles. That he might be the father of
all God's elect Whether they be Gentiles, not circumcised,
whether they be Gentiles, that righteousness might be imputed
to them also. And the father of circumcision
to them who are not of the fleshly circumcision only, but who also
walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which
he had being yet uncircumcised. God promised Abraham he's going
to be a father of many, many, many children. This was a spiritual
promise. He's talking about his spiritual
seed. And he promised him that and said that Abraham, you and
all these children are going to be heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. But he didn't make that promise
through circumcision. If he had, it would have been
a conditional covenant. It would have been a covenant
of works. Because circumcision stood for the first work of the
law. If a man circumcised, he's a debtor to keep the whole law.
And circumcision, circumcision, picture that, coming under the
law and doing all the law. God didn't make this promise
that he was going to be a father through the law. If he did, it
would have been a covenant of works. He made this promise to
him through the righteousness of faith. Look at verse 13. For
the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to
Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. What is the righteousness of
faith? It's trusting that it's the righteousness of the law
being fulfilled by the faithfulness of Christ and freely imputed
to us through faith in Christ. That's the righteousness of faith.
Christ established the law by his faithfulness. And that righteous
establishment of the law is given to us through faith in Christ.
So God said, I'm going to make you a father of many nations
through believing on Christ, not through the works of the
law. through believing on Christ. And so he rested in Christ to
fulfill the covenant of God for him. He rested in Christ to establish
the whole law of God for him. And that was the righteousness
that was imputed to him. Go to Galatians 3.15. It says the promise that he should
be the heir was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith. That meant Here's what
it meant, Galatians 3.15. Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed,
no man disallows or add thereto. If you enter into a covenant
with somebody and it's done, it's sealed, nobody's going to
come along and disallow that or change it. No, no, you could
bring in all different kinds of laws. Once you've written
in a covenant with somebody, no other law that comes in is
going to affect that covenant between you and that person.
It's done. It's sealed. Well, watch this. Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. And he said, not unto seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Before God ever entered that
covenant with Abraham, God entered that covenant with Christ. And
promised Him to be a Father of many nations. The last Adam. Our everlasting Father. The Father
of all His people. And Christ came and fulfilled
that covenant for all His people. So that when God made that covenant
to Abraham, That covenant was confirmed in Christ. It was resting
on Christ's work and all the work Christ would do. So nothing
can change that. It's a covenant already entered
into. Now watch this. And this I say, verse 17, that
the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should
make the promise of none effect. Just because the law, 430 years
later, not only was Abraham's physical circumcision didn't
even play into this, the law wasn't given for 430 more years. Abraham was made righteous by
Christ. And that promise God made to
Abraham was in Christ. And when the law came in 430
years later, it didn't touch that covenant promise. And let
me tell you something, when God brings you to faith in Christ,
and He brings you to rest in Him, and God's imputed to you
the righteousness of the law, and it's fulfilled, and all God's
promises to you are yes and amen in Christ. That means the law
will not disannul, the law will not change one of those promises
whatsoever. Because here's the fact of the
matter, go back with me over here to Romans chapter 4. Look down at verse 15. It says here, where no law is,
there's no transgression. The law works wrath. If you bring
the law back in, you know, men will say, well, after you believe
on Christ, we say you're justified by Christ, but now you've got
to be sanctified by keeping the law. You bring the law back in,
in any shape or form, Who does the law speak to? Them that are
under the law. If you bring the law back in,
you're bringing yourself back under the law. And the law speaks
to you now. And what does the law say to
you? It speaks wrath. God says they're guilty. If you
bring the law back in and say you got to be sanctified by your
works, then that law is going to pronounce you guilty. But
where no law is, there's no transgression. Remember God said, in Romans
5.13 concerning how we were made sin. He said after he said about
Adam brought in sin and so sin entered and death passed upon
all men because we all sinned in Adam. He said but there was
between Adam and Moses there was no law. And God will not
impute sin where there is no law. That means you got to be
made sin by a prior act or God won't impute sin to you. What
he's saying is God, there was men that sin reigned and they
died between Adam and Moses. God did impute sin to them. How
could he do that and be just? There was no law. Because he's
saying we really did sin in Adam. But here what he's saying is
because Christ fulfilled the law. Gave it everything it needed. That law says nothing to us. And where no law is, there's
no transgression. God will not charge His people
with anything. How then are we going to be led
forth? How are we going to go forth and obey God and be led
if we're not under the rule of the law? Abraham wasn't under
that. He wasn't under the rule of the
law. He didn't have it. How are we going to be led forth? How
is our sin going to be mortified? Are we going to be led forth?
Go over to Galatians with me real quick. One more time. Galatians
and look at chapter 5. Verse 22. We walk by the Spirit. We're led of the Spirit. The
fruit of the Spirit is love. Verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
That's what the Spirit creates in us. And what about our flesh
though? It's got to be put down. Look,
verse 24. They that are Christ have crucified
the flesh with the affections and the lust. We were crucified.
Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. I'm dead to the law now. There's no law and there's no
transgression anymore. I was crucified then that I might
live to God. He's creating this love and joy
and peace and that's how we're led. And that's what He creates
in His people. Look at the conclusion. If we
live in the Spirit, let's walk in the Spirit. Don't go back
to the law. For justification or sanctification.
Because we're dead to the law. We really are dead to the law.
We're really under the rule of Christ. We walk by faith which
works by love. and that constraint of Christ
in the heart through the spirit. That's how we're led. That's
what Paul meant when he said, I'm dead to the law and the life
I now live. I don't even live that of myself. I live that by the faithfulness
of Christ working in me, directing me, and guiding me, and correcting
me, and mortifying my sinful flesh, and keeping me looking
only to him and not to myself. That's how I live. It's all by
him. And so what God was telling Abraham
was, this is how, I'm going to work this work in all your spiritual
seed, and this is how you're going to be a father. This is
how it's going to be sure that you're going to be a father.
Because I'm going to work this in all mine elect. The same work
I worked in you. And he said this to him, listen.
Go to Romans 2, I'm going to show you this. Romans 2, and
I'm going to end. He says in verse 26, if the uncircumcision
keep the righteousness of the law, if you and I are Gentiles,
we never had the law, but if we can keep the righteousness
of the law, if we establish the law, shall not our uncircumcision
be imputed for circumcision? He's not pretending here. If
you and I have kept the righteousness of the law, God will impute us
to be true Jews. He really will. He'll say we
are the Israel of God. And look at this, and shall not
these uncircumcised Gentiles, which are uncircumcised Gentiles
by nature, if they fulfill the law, will they not judge those
who by the letter and by their circumcision are transgressing
the law? If you go back to the law and
you try to obey it in the letter to please God, You're going to
transgress it. The law is going to speak wrath
to you if you do that. And those, Christ said, those
who follow Him, who are made righteous by Him, we're going
to stand with Him one day and we're going to judge this whole
world. And shall not they judge those who are transgressing by
the letter of the law and by their circumcision? Yeah, they
will. How then can we do this? How can we keep the righteousness
of the law? We never had it. It wasn't given
to us as Gentiles. How can we be counted true Jews? Romans 2.28. For he's not a Jew
which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is
outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is out of the heart, in the spirit, not in a letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. That's the blessing of
Abraham. And us Gentiles are given this
Does this blessing come upon uncircumcised Gentiles too? Does
it come upon you and me who never ever had the law given to us? How can we establish the law
if we never had it? The same way Abraham did. Through
faith in Christ. That's the only way. That's the
only way. Now go to Galatians 3 one more
time. I should have told you to stay
there. Go there with me. And he told Abraham, he said,
because I did this in your heart, I'm showing you I'm going to
do this in all my elect's heart, even those that don't even have
the law, aren't your natural sons and don't even have the
law. And they're going to be your spiritual sons and daughters
through faith in my Son. Now look what he says right here.
Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. Why? that the blessing of Abraham. Remember how our text started?
Does this blessing come upon uncircumcised Gentiles? Christ,
he redeemed all his people, Jew and Gentile, from the curse of
the law. That that blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ. That we might receive the promise
that was made by the Spirit through faith. That he might make us
heirs of God and join heirs with Christ. Look at Galatians 3.26. If you're all the children of
God, by faith in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 29. And if you
be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to God's
promise. Just like God said to Abraham,
I promise you, Abraham, you're going to have many spiritual
sons and daughters. They're going to all establish
the righteousness of my law just like you have, through faith
in my son. And it's going to be because
I'm going to circumcise him in the heart and give him faith
in Christ. And that's what he's done. And
if you're sitting here right now and he's giving you faith
in Christ, you are a child of Abraham. And you're an heir with
Abraham according to God's promise. That means we're joint heirs
with Christ. Everything that God has, He's
given it to Christ. And everything that Christ has,
He's given it to His people. You know what Paul's, you know
what his summary was, you know what he concluded from all that?
In 1 Corinthians he said, therefore brethren, don't glory in men.
Don't start worrying that men are going to prevent you from
getting something God's preordained for you to have. Don't exalt
men and glory in men. Don't even glory in your own
flesh. When you see your sinfulness and you think, oh I can't be
a child of God. Don't, don't, that's to glorify
man. Don't glorify man. Don't exalt
man. Why? He said because all things
are yours. And you're Christ's and Christ
is God's. There's no possible way that
those for whom Christ died will not have everything God promised
us. God's just. He's going to give
it. He's going to give it. I hope some of that made sense.